I woke up super early to catch the Spurs v. Wolves match at 4:30 am. Per the usual, the Spurs got off to a slow start. They played much better in the second half and scored the game's only goal with a header by Harry Kane to take all 3 points. #COYS!
I arrived at the Irvine Transportation Center right at 7 am. After parking the car in the parking structure, I grabbed my bags and used the restroom before heading over to the platform to wait for the train. Per the usual, when the train pulled into the station, I found a seat next to the stairwell so there wouldn't be anyone sitting behind me. The window seat cushion was really worn out. I'd venture to guess that that's the favorite seat for many other train riders besides me.
Irvine transportation center
The train pulled into Santa Fe Depot right at about 9 am. From there, I started my trek out to the Sheraton Hotel to pick up my race packet. Recently, I had developed extensor tendonitis in my left big toe, so the walk over was somewhat uncomfortable. I was a pretty sweaty mess when I got there. I first used the hotel restroom before heading over to the Eventide located in the back for the race expo. After picking up my bib and my race shirt, I did a quick walk through of the vendor booths. I then said hi to my friend who was volunteering before heading out. From there I walked over to the Middletown Trolley Station to catch the MTS Blue Line up to La Jolla. While waiting for the next train, I was approached by a lady. With the ongoing homeless issues, I was pretty wary with strangers coming up to me for anything. She asked in Spanish if I understood Spanish. I replied, "un poco." So she proceeded to ask me where she could purchase a train ticket with cash. While I did understand basic Spanish, I've been out of practice with speaking Spanish, so I replied in English for her to try the machine down at the other end of the platform. However, I wasn't sure if the machine took cash as I've always used the Compass and now, the Pronto mobile app.
Expo at Sheraton
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Tote bag
Middletown trolley station
As I approached the Nobel Dr Trolley Station, I placed an order for lunch on the Chipotle app. I cashed in my reward points for a free steak burrito bowl. Once I got there, I went straight to the counter to ask for my order as I remembered from my last visit that despite the pick-up instructions, they didn't actually put the mobile orders out on the shelf.
Free steak burrito bowl
While eating my lunch, I had to decide on which movie to watch. On the AMC mobile app, I purchased a ticket for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. I almost balked at paying the $20 ticket price. My other option was to watch Bullet Train which was about $7 cheaper. Just as I was about done, I ordered a grande chocolate cream cold brew on the Starbucks app. That order earned me an extra 25 reward stars.
Chocolate cream cold brew
I finished off my drink before going inside the movie theater. I used the restroom before finding my reserved seat. It was actually a pretty decent enjoyable movie for a casual Dragon Ball fan like me who haven't been keeping up with everything. The last Dragon Ball that I've seen was the Dragon Ball Super: Broly back in 2018. Even though the movie was not focused on Goku or Vegeta, the story had all of the familiar characters such as Gohan, Piccolo, Bulma, Goten, Trunks, Android 18, and Krillin. Even with the pre-movie coffee, I still dozed off a bit during the build-up to the big fight.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
Mid credits scene
After using the restroom, I caught the MTS Blue Line back down to Downtown San Diego. After getting off of the train at the City College Trolley Station, I headed over to my timeshare property, WorldMark San Diego - Balboa Park. Along the way, I stopped in at McDonald's to get a large iced coffee for 99 cents using the mobile app deal.
Large iced coffee 99 cents
Even though I was about an hour early for check-in, my room was ready. I was assigned room #213. For once, the standard visit at the concierge station did not result in them pestering me to attend another owner update. Perhaps they had put a note on my account to not bother me with such things. I was already on a plan to reach permanent platinum ownership status.
I vegged out in my room until it was time to go get dinner. I placed an order for 2 quarter pounders with cheese using the buy 1, get 1 for 29 cents mobile app deal before going across the street to pick up my food. After finishing dinner, I took a shower, laid out my flat runner, and called it a night.
Quarter pounder with cheese x2
Flat runner
Sunday 8/21
I got up early to get ready and left my room at about 4:15 am. It was a short but dark walk over to the shuttle pick-up location at Balboa Park. There was a fellow female runner making that same walk not too far behind me. It's always nice to have some company especially with the homeless issues getting worse year after year. They were boarding those uncomfortable school buses when I arrived, so I headed over to the finish area to use one of the portapotties. I got in line to board the shuttle once I saw that it was one of those nicer motorcoaches. I took a seat in the back of the bus. I arrived at the Cabrillo National Monument parking lot just after 5 am. It wasn't too long before I ran into my San Diegan friends. A few of them were pacers for today's race.
Tracy
Joy and Sef
Scott
Dan and Karen
Scott, Karen, and Dan
Ready to go!
The race started on time at 6:15 am. Originally, I wasn't planning on starting so far up in the front, but I ended up starting with my friends. I made sure not to run out too fast. I stuck with an older gentleman who was running around a 9 minute per mile pace. Coming into this race, I thought that I could hold off on taking walk breaks until I had reached mile 4 where the course flattened out. However, before I even got to mile 2, I had to pull over and take a walk break as I was starting to overheat. Once I had gotten past the initial rollers, I was able to get some faster running. The tendonitis was really bothering me during the stretch on Scott St as the course veered into Harbor Blvd. I was having to take a walk break after jogging about a third of a mile.
My friend that was pacing the 2:10 pace group caught me at about the 10k mark. My friend pacing the 2:15 group caught me shortly after I made the turn at Harbor Island Dr. I was starting to find a more comfortable pace where it wasn't aggravating the tendonitis. It was a pretty pedestrian pace of about 11:15 minute per mile. After completing the 2 short out and backs on Harbor Island, I made the turn onto Liberator Way which took us back to Harbor Dr. I was able to maintain some sustained running until I got to the Star of India and made the left turn onto Ash St. It was actually nice to see that they were once again passing out sliders. Per the usual, I did not partake.
2:10 pace group
Once I made the right turn onto Pacific Highway, I felt like I was overheating again and had to take a couple of walk breaks. That worked out for the best since I saw that the trolleys in both directions were rolling through as I approached the left turn onto Broadway. I was definitely riding the struggle bus! After turning left onto India St, that was followed by a right turn onto A St. This would begin the sustained climb up to El Prado. I tried to follow one female runner that was maintaining an even slow pace, but I couldn't keep up after reaching 1st Ave. I tried to jog wherever I could, but it was a slow grind after turning on 6th Ave for the final climb. Starting from about Ivy St, I tried to get myself to run the rest of the way without walking. However, shortly after crossing over the 163 via the Cabrillo Bridge, I had to pull over for 1 last walk break. I then progressively sped up for that final turn onto Pan American Rd and the final stretch to the finish line.
Finish line
Finish: 2:25:07
Click here for my Garmin data.
Shortly after crossing the finish line, I went over and said hi to someone that I follow on Instagram, @Runnylegs. I first noticed her as we were running along Harbor Island. I thought she looked really familiar, but I've never met her in real life. Then as I was taking my final walk break while crossing the Cabrillo Bridge, I saw her pass me. We must have been running around each other for the entire race!
I got my finisher medal and a bottle of water. Then further down the chute, I got a brown paper bag containing some post-race snacks and then a small carton of chocolate milk. I then made my way into the post race festival area. I was able to locate the spot where we were to pick up our triple crown medal. I then found a table to set my stuff down. Per the usual, the paper bag disintegrated pretty quickly as I was a sweaty mess. I was feeling pretty drained, but not as bad as I had felt last weekend at Long Beach. I guess the endurance was slowly returning. I drank the chocolate milk before transferring the post race snacks from the torn paper bag to my pockets. I've gotten pretty slow these days, so one of the requirements for any new pair of shorts that I purchase has to have regular pockets, not just those tiny ones for a key or 1 gel.
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
Triple crown medal
I then started to head back to my room. On the way out of the post race festival area, I bumped into my friends taking pictures at the various race backdrops. I snuck in for a quick picture with them.
Triple crown finishers
I got back to my room in time to catch the second half of the Newcastle v. Man City match. At the half, Newcastle was up 2-1. They would go up 3-1 with a direct free kick goal by former Spurs, Kieran Trippier. However, City would eventually equalize with a goal from Haaland and Bernardo Silva. The match got a little bit spicy at the end which included a VAR reversal of a red card on Trippier for a dangerous tackle, but it ended in a 3-3 draw.
I was dragging a bit, but eventually I took a shower and went across the street to get lunch. I got 2 double cheeseburgers while using the buy 1, get 1 for 29 cents deal on the mobile app. As I was about finished with both burgers, I ordered a large iced coffee for 99 cents using another mobile app deal.
Double cheeseburger x2
Large iced coffee 99 cents
With an iced coffee in hand, I started walking back up to Balboa Park to go check out the Spider-Man: Beyond Amazing - The Exhibition over at the Comic-Con Museum. Back on 7/1, I was sent an email with a QR code for a complimentary visit of the exhibition. It was one of the perks for being a tier 2 Comic-Con Museum member. Not a bad perk, as a regular adult ticket was $30. On the way out, I bought a t-shirt for $34 since Spider-Man was my favorite comic book character and I felt compelled to continue to support this museum.
Spider-Ham
Souvenir t-shirt
At about 6:30 pm, I went across the street to get dinner at McDonald's again. I decided to cash in some of my expiring reward points to get a free 10 pcs Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal. Sure my reward points were expiring, but who could resist Pikachu?! :)
10 pcs Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal
Monday 8/22
I woke up at about my usual time, at about 5 am. I didn't check out of my unit until about 9 am. The lady at the front desk gave me a care package which contained a bottle of water and some individual bags of snacks. I started my walk over to the Santa Fe Depot to catch the Amtrak train up to my car in Irvine. I arrived at the Starbucks across the street at just after 9:30 am. About a block away from the coffee shop, I had placed my order on the mobile app for a bacon, sausage & egg wrap and the usual salted caramel cream cold brew. I went inside to wait for my order. I'm still getting used to how Starbucks operates. Apparently it varies, but for this particular location, they will make drinks for mobile orders, but place them just out of reach in the distribution area. You'll have to ask them for it. However, for your food, they will just call out your name as soon as it's ready. The guy called for Emily, but I knew it was for me. :) After waiting for a while, I finally asked one of the baristas for my drink. It was one of the drinks that was sitting there before I even entered the coffee shop! I took my food and found a spot in the patio area.
Check-out care package
Salted caramel cream cold brew and bacon, sausage & egg wrap
After I finished my breakfast, I went across the street and got in line to board the train. I found my usual seat right next to the stairwell and got settled in to take a nap. I didn't start my nap until the conductor scanned my train ticket. The train pulled into the Irvine Transportation Center at about 10 minutes to noon.
After hopping into my car, I drove up to Brea where I exited the freeway at Imperial to pick up lunch at Kenkotsu Ramen. It would seem as if they were pretty shorthanded. There was one guy cooking ramen, another guy taking orders while preparing non-ramen items, and another guy who may not be an employee in the back that appeared to be fixing some drainage in the floor. I ordered their spicy beef curry rice to-go. When the weather cools down, I'll have to come back and check out their ramen.
Spicy beef curry rice
I caught the second half of the Manchester United v. Liverpool match which had started at noon while eating my lunch. Struggling Man United somehow managed to win 2-1. Ronaldo wasn't even in the line-up until the match was pretty much over. He's really not a player that Man United needs as they barely have possession with their current roster. They need players more willing to play defense. Although probably not a popular move, it was a smart one by the manager.
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